The Cleveland Browns didn’t get off to the start they hoped in a 43-13 drubbing at home at the hands of the Titans on Sunday. It was an inauspicious beginning to a season that had more hype and promise than any Browns season since they returned to Cleveland in 1999.
Odell Beckham Jr.’s arrival in Cleveland this offseason by way of trade from the Giants was the splashiest of the Browns offseason moves and brought with it the expectation that this year’s offense would be among the league’s best. That didn’t pan out on Sunday as Baker Mayfield and company struggled to move the ball consistently, but you could see glimpses of what could be. Beckham had seven catches for 71 yards in his Browns debut in a solid but not spectacular performance.
Still, the superstar receiver managed to turn heads with his wrist game on Sunday afternoon as he rocked a $350,000 Richard Mille watch during the game. That drew plenty of attention (which is the point of a sponsorship, so he did his job), but it was in violation of the NFL’s “hard objects” rule and the league reportedly issued him a warning but no fine. However, it doesn’t appear OBJ plans to abide by that request from the league and plans to wear the watch again going forward.
#Browns Odell Beckham Jr said he wants it to about football, not the watch. Says if it was anyone else it wouldn’t have been an issue. If $20 watch, not an issue. Plans to wear it again
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 10, 2019
It is funny that Beckham says he wants the focus to be on football and not the watch, only to go on to say he’s going to keep wearing the watch. It’s also understandable why he will want to keep wearing it if that’s part of the deal he has.
If all that will happen is he gets fined every time he wears it, he’ll probably make more than enough from whatever deal he has with Richard Mille to cover that and plenty more. The league allows players to wear jewelry, but not hard objects, which a watch counts as, as they could hurt another player if struck by the object.
Beckham’s performance on the field has nothing to do with a watch and Browns fans and the team won’t care if he’s picking up fines for that provided they start winning. If Cleveland’s slow start continues and an OBJ watch controversy comes along with it, though, then expect some frustration from the Dawg Pound.
